CROWS coach Neil Craig isn’t getting carried away with Saturday’s 81-point drubbing of Collingwood, but he admits there are some promising signs at West Lakes.

Over the summer Craig vowed to give more opportunities to his younger players and they repaid his faith with a convincing display against the travel-weary Pies in the United Arab Emirates.

“The younger guys we played today were very good in the variety of positions that we tried them in. A lot of things went right, but we need to put the whole thing in perspective obviously,” Craig said after the match played on a converted polo field at the Ghantoot Racing and Polo Club.

“We played a side that’s been away for three weeks in South Africa and has had some sickness, so you have to keep that in perspective, but in terms of our own preparation, some of the style of play we saw today was very pleasing.”

The biggest question mark hanging over the Crows leading into the NAB Cup opener was how the ruck department would cope without established big men Rhett Biglands (knee), Ben Hudson (traded to the Bulldogs) and Jon Griffin (bruised heel).

But again, Craig’s belief in his young charges was warranted and 22-year-old Ivan Maric and Brad Moran, 21, combined with impressive debutant 20-year-old Kurt Tippett to give Adelaide’s onballers good supply around the ground.

“The ruckmen were very good,” Craig said.

“I liked what I saw from the guys in the ruck and even Scott Stevens had a run in the last ten minutes. Each of those three guys [Maric, Moran and Tippett] clearly demonstrated today, against [Josh] Fraser and [Chris] Bryan, what they are capable of and that’s what opportunity is.”

Prior to leaving for the United Arab Emirates, Craig identified the midfield and the method of delivery into the forward line as areas for experiment.

On Saturday the Crows, marshalled by Nathan Bock at centre-half back, dominated the clearances and moved the ball cleanly and concisely into a revamped attack.

Up forward the strapping James Sellar booted three goals on debut and Simon Goodwin and Brett Burton looked dangerous.

“We saw some good signs moving the ball from our back line, through the midfield and into the forward line,” Craig said.

“We had quite a few uncontested marks in our forward line and that’s quite often a product of the way you move the ball. It's something we tried to work on during the pre-season and the challenge now is to do it consistently against good opposition.

“It’s early days, but as a club we’re really pleased given that we’ve had to travel ourselves and [with] the way the guys have prepared and performed.”